VB | Defense Shines as Gaels Narrowly Fall in Four to Pepperdine

Thursday, November 5

Moraga, CA

6:30 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

14-10,9-3WCC

Pepperdine

19-4,11-1WCC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Pepperdine	25	26	27	25	3
Saint Mary's (CA)	22	28	25	18	1

Alayna Pearson: 16 Digs, 8 Assists

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

11/5/2026 10:53:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Highlights

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Volleyball went toe-to-toe with one of the top dogs in the West Coast Conference and all of West Coast mid-major volleyball, the Pepperdine Waves, battling in four extremely competitive sets, ultimately falling 3-1. The Gaels led in all four sets, and played well above their season averages for kills/set, digs/set and blocks/set in a demonstration that they belong in the upper echelons of the West Coast Conference.

GAME NOTES
Each of the first three sets in this contest were decided by three or fewer points. The Gaels erased an early 11-7 deficit to take a 19-18 lead heading into the home stretch of set one. The Waves, however, would sideout to level things at 19 apiece with a massive block, and used that momentum to close out the set on a 7-3 run to go ahead 1-0. The Gaels fed Layne Dent early in this one, coming up with six of their 15 kills in the opening frame.

Saint Mary's responded in set two, finding themselves in a very similar position as in set one, tied at 20 all, but were able to close out the frame 28-26 after staving off a pair of set point opportunities from the Waves. After a quiet first frame, Antonie Kelnarova came to life in set two, with seven kills and five digs.

Just like the first two sets, set three came down to the wire. Saint Mary's fell behind early, 14-9, but battled through the adversity to knot things up at 20 apiece, and ultimately gave themselves a chance to take the set, going up 24-22. A 5-1 run from the Waves, however, would thwart that chance for the Gaels, as Pepperdine took a 2-1 lead, 27-25. Kelnarova stayed red-hot for the Gaels with four more kills and three more digs.

Saint Mary's fired the opening salvo in set four, with an early 7-4 lead, but Pepperdine would re-find its footing with an 8-1 run, giving them a lead that they would not relinquish for the remainder of the match, taking the decisive fourth, 25-18. Mackenzie Jackson came to life late in the match, turning six swings into four kills to hit at a 0.500 clip in the final frame, but her tremendous effort was not quite enough to lead the Gaels into a fifth set.

GAME NOTES

Saint Mary's recorded 50 kills, 50 digs and 10 blocks for just the third time this season, and for the first time in a four set match.
Layne Dent and Antonie Kelnarova both recorded 15 kills, with Kelnarova adding 11 digs for her 10th double-double of the year.
Kelnarova also added three aces, bringing her season tally to 55, one shy of the WCC Rally Scoring Era single season record.
Mackenzie Jackson joined Dent and Kelnarova in double-digit kills land, with 11 while hitting at a team-best 0.269 clip.
Sadie White came up just one dig shy of a double-double, with 38 assists and nine digs, while Natalie Peete also had nine acrobatic digs in tonight's contest.
Alayna Pearson led the back row defensive effort with 16 total digs, her highest tally since the WCC opener at San Diego, while Ava Galvan recorded five solo blocks, something done by only seven other Gaels in a single match in program history, which was last achieved by Aubrey Pitts in 2019.

QUOTABLE

UP NEXT
After matching up with one of the two teams tied for first place in the WCC tonight, the Gaels will see the other on Saturday, as they welcome the LMU Lions to town. First serve on November 7 is slated for 2 p.m. Get your tickets today at smcgaels.com/tickets or stream live on ESPN+.

Don't miss a second of Saint Mary's Volleyball action in 2026! Tickets are on sale here!

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